The blessing of being homesick

This is a column I wrote for my international journalism class and will be published in the campus newspaper:

Having lived in the Netherlands for three months I expected to feel very settled, but the closer it gets to Christmas the more homesick I feel. Culture shock is said to go in phases, first the honeymoon period, then disintegration, re-integration, autonomy and independence. I am firmly stuck in the disintegration period at the moment.

Homesickness creeps up on you when you least expect it and about the weirdest things. Having lived away from home for three years now and not once getting homesick – it’s strange that I am suddenly afflicted with it. It’s not family I miss particularly, nor friends, it’s just that feeling of home.

It’s going to work and getting a Boots meal deal, it’s mince pies and brandy butter, it’s walking to university, it’s fish and chips and being constantly offered a ‘cuppa’. I’m not patriotic, I’m not particularly proud to be British but right now I have a yearning to be back with the familiar.

To hear British accents when I go outside and to understand what is being said in shops and on buses – to not feel like I only understand half of my surroundings. It’s the language barrier that makes the experience of living abroad so lonely. It’s not until you can’t do something that you realise how important it is – listening to grannies having a natter on the bus is one of those things. Knowing what to say in shops is so undervalued, I constantly have to pray they won’t ask if I want a receipt – however hard I try I cannot remember that vocabulary. I miss understanding everything and being understood and not feeling like people have to go out of their way to accommodate for me.

I love it here. It really is starting to feel like home, it’s not that I’m miserable. That’s the thing with homesickness, everything can be great but still you know something is missing. A nagging feeling reminding you that this isn’t home and that is what makes it so difficult. There is the desperate desire to seize every opportunity and make the most of the time you have. Realising sometimes you need to sit out and let yourself be homesick feels like a waste of valuable time – but what it does is makes you realise what you’ve got.

Feeling homesick is horrible – but it forces you appreciate everything just that little bit more and really that’s a blessing.

Sorry!

I haven’t blogged for so long – and I’m really sorry. I will hopefully try and catch up over Christmas. But I’ve just been so busy and really settling into day-to-day life, and everything feels normal now – there is much less ‘exciting’ stuff to write about, plus I have had a hideous amount of school work the second half of this semester. But I will do a quick run-down of stuff I have done since I last blogged which is ages!

• Dad came to visit at the end of mid-term break which I may have blogged about(?) – we went to the Heineken factory, and a speciality beer place in Utrecht that sells hundreds of vareities of beer – including one called Raging Bitch IPA which every time I go I ask for to no avail. (This was actually all before Prague, so I probably have written about it)
• Went to see Swan Lake at the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam which was really good even if we were in the cheap seats. In all honesty though I much prefer the Matthew Bourne interpretation, contemporary ballet is far more dynamic.
• Went to Eindhoven to a light festival – Eindhoven is the technology capital of the country so it made sense for this to be here. I took a few photos which I will post soon. But really incredible, a lot of it was done by arts and engineering students and included light shows projected on churches and houses and installations in trees. Really lovely way to see Eindhoven (even if it was dark) as it took you outside of the main city centre.
• Had lots of dinners with friends
• My Mum came to visit which was lovely and I should really do a full blog post on – but it mainly consisted of eating, drinking and wandering around somewhat aimlessly. We went to the Stedelijk contemporary art museum in Amsterdam which is fantastic and I can highly recommend – even if half the art work we could definitely do, but half the fun was laughing at the art and forming your own interpretations (us uncultured, what?). In Utrecht we went up to the top of the V&D which I will also post photos of and you get see all across the city – but still not as high up as the Dom.
• Saw the new Hunger Games film – it’s good, but didn’t wow me.
• Went to Den Haag (The Hague) for an afternoon to see Shirin Ebadi speak. She is an Iranian nobel peace prize winner and gave a fascinating talk on women and Islam and the incredibly false perceptions of Islam as anti-women. Plus The Hague is beautiful – definitely need to go back and spend more time there.
• Went on a pub crawl around Utrecht with some of the teachers and the dean – nice to get to speak to them outside of the classroom. The hangover the next day was not so nice – why is the beer here so strong? Also became convinced I could speak Dutch whilst drunk which resulted in me insisting on order fries in a mix of Dutch, German and English. Well done Emma.
• Celebrated Becca’s (one of the other Leed’s girls) 21st birthday!!!
• Got Sinterklaas presents!!! Yay, thank you Sint & Piet xoxoxo
• Got accepted to be introweek parents next semester – so I get my own family!!!

So that’s a quick update might post some photos and such soon, but for now back to essay writing – Rape as a weapon of war, cheery topic for a cold Tuesday afternoon!

The 1975 & International Journalism

A while back (4th October) I went to go see The 1975 in Utrecht and ended up reviewing it for my International Journalism course. I thought I would post it here as well, so here goes (apologies for the shocking headline). Many thanks to the very lovely Anna for buying these tickets and super sorry you couldn’t come – next time!

2.5 bottles of wine later: an incredible performance by The 1975

Emma Healey reviews the 1975 in Utrecht.

“I’m sorry I don’t speak Dutch. Please don’t see it as a reflection of my ignorance, see it as a reflection of your intelligence.” – Matt Healy

With a sold-out performance at TivoliVrendenburg as part of a world tour, it is clear that The 1975 have burst on to the music scene – a far cry from the years of rejection by numerous record companies, and even last year performing at the Camden Barfly. These years of hardship however have only served to improve them as a band and their time experimenting with different genres have left them with a sound that bridges the gap between pop-punk and indie- and electro-rock. A blend that situates them perfectly as a band for the millennials – but it is a testament to their talent that their appeal stretches beyond this. They have been well-received by music critics and their self-titled debut album reached number 1 on the UK albums chart.

As the latest export of Manchester’s music scene, The 1975 step in the footsteps of artists such as Oasis. Whilst they are an extremely talented foursome, it is clear that the androgynous, tattooed front-man Matt Healy is the shining star and heartthrob of the group. As the son of Denise Welch, Coronation Street and Waterloo Road, and Tim Healy, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, he is no stranger to the lime-light and from his performance it is clear that he thrives on the attention and the adoration of his (largely female) fan base. Whether he is dancing, smoking or drinking copious amounts of wine (a total of two and a half bottles during the two hour set), he is met with screams – something Healy hugely plays with in his interactions with the crowd.

Photo by me

At a sold-out gig consisting predominantly of well-established fans, the atmosphere was fantastic, particularly during their hits such as “Sex” and “Chocolate” which the crowd enthusiastically sung along to. The electricity during the better-known songs as well as the skill of the tech team succeeded in carrying this atmosphere through slower and less popular songs that otherwise could have fallen flat.

The lively atmosphere, charismatic performance and raw talent make The 1975 one to watch out for – if this performance was anything to go by, it shouldn’t be long before they are selling out stadiums.

A weekend trip to Prague

After a very successful Halloween where I dressed up as Mary Poppins, I went to Prague for my friend Melissa’s 21st birthday. I am absolutely obsessed with Mary Poppins to the point of watching it 4 times in a 2 week period – a highly underrated Disney film – and I loved my costume, definitely one that will be used again.

Zombie Hipster, ‘the death of Scottish Independence’, and Mary Poppins

I had planned to go to the masters open day at the University of Amsterdam on the Saturday, which is why I booked my flight then rather than the Friday – however my flight was about 3pm in the afternoon which made going to any of the talks which all started at 1 or 2 very difficult. Besides if I do decide to do my masters in the Netherlands I think I would go to Utrecht University anyway. Ever the anxious flier I arrived at the airport about 2 hours before my flight when I had no luggage to check-in, but plenty of time to shop – or so I thought. Due to flying on that specific flight and also flights going to Milan and maybe Geneva we got put in the tiniest departure lounge with basically no duty free and to my dismay no MAC counter to treat myself to some new make-up. It’s only saving grace was free wifi and plug sockets.

I arrived in Prague around 5:30pm and somehow managed to make my way to the hostel – I have no idea how really since the entire bus journey was in the dark with all the stops read out in Czech, but I did it. I did then get hideously lost trying to find the resturant for dinner where I planned to meet my friends, walking 30 minutes to the Jewish quarter when really it was a 5-10 minute walk from my hostel. Arriving half way through dinner whilst travelling seems to be becoming a bit of a tradition for me. It was so so nice to see some of my friends from uni, it came exactly at the right time after a week of missing my Leeds friends loads!

That night we went out to celebrate Melissa’s birthday, first with a house party and then going to a club for Halloween (recycled part of my Mary Poppins costume and went as a vampire schoolgirl). I think the last time I went to a club was before I moved to Utrecht so the end of August, so that was an interesting experience. The UCSA bar on campus is great because it’s so close to home and you know everyone and generally feel very safe – but I need to start breaking the bubble and going ‘out out’. There are so many great places to drink in Utrecht, when my Dad visited (the weekend before Prague) we went to Kafe Belgie which had the most impressive selection of beer I have ever seen – I need to explore more. That said, I do have a tendency to get bored of clubs very quickly or just tired – I managed to last until about 3:30 in Prague though when it was time for the best part of any night out – post-night out food. This is what I live for.

Outside the National Museum that turned out to be closed for the next 5 years

I’d already been to Prague whilst interrailling after first year, although we were only there for a day so didn’t see everything. It certainly took some of the pressure off sight-seeing though combined with having a friend who will be living there for the rest of the year. We did a lot of wandering around and sitting down and eating often without any particular aim. We went to Campa island which looked like it would have been a really interesting art exhibition if we hadn’t arrived shortly before it closed so could only see one room. 

I hadn’t been to the Jewish quarter when I went last time so on the Monday we wandered around there and saw some of the old synagogues –  we chose the Spanish synagogue mainly because it was cheaper and less busy than a lot of the older ones. I don’t think I had ever been in a synagogue before which is odd because we did so many school trips round churches and temples – this synagogue did however seem to be preparing for some kind of concert so probably wasn’t the best example. It was so beautiful though – really decorated and opulent but quite small which made it feel not too ostentatious.

Spanish Synagogue

Really though as ever the highlight of this holiday/trip was the people and the food and oh my god the food, Italian food, Lebanese food (all I ever want to eat again), an African cafe, traditional Chinese tea, gluhwein/mulled wine, V for Vendetta/anonymous themed bars and cocktails (I would thoroughly recommend – it was really cool). I like this travelling round Europe lark.

Chinese tea table

Prague, I will definitely be back.

55 hours, 5 countries and a lot of money

With midterms finally over, it was time to party to mark the start of fall break and a week of what we hoped would be fun and relaxing. Fun, yes. Relaxing, far from it. My unitmate, Maurits, and I had decided to join the university hitchhiking trip to Zaragoza, Spain. We aimed to arrive before the dinner on Monday at 8:30pm, it was only 1500km, how hard could it be? We had our route all planned out, Antwerp, to Gent, to Paris, to Bordeaux, and into Spain – turns out hitchhiking is not easily planned as it all depends on luck, which more often than not was not on our side.

Our eventual route

Our first lift was off a lovely medical student from Utrecht University who took us to a gas station just outside Venlo, completely in the opposite direction to what we planned but at least we were getting somewhere! We waited at that gas station for probably about 3 hours for another lift who took us in the direction of Maastricht but as they were heading to Germany they couldn’t take us all the way – bless them though they moved all their luggage around in their car to fit us in though. It definitely would have been easier to hitchhike East than South I think. The gas station we were dropped at though was fairly quiet but eventually we managed to persuade one man to take us to the next gas station, a grand total of a 7 minute drive – but this was great because this gas station had loads of truckers and within 15 minutes we were on our way to France via Luxembourg!

Anywhere South of the Netherlands please

Around 6 hours (2am) and 2 movies later we safely arrived in Metz, France – which in itself is a miracle as half the journey I am convinced he didn’t have either of his hands on the steering wheel and was watching films. As we arrived in the middle of the night we resigned ourselves to not getting a lift until morning, fortunately we were allowed to sleep (or attempt to) in the closed gas station restaurant. After about a 4 hour wait in the cold the next morning a British couple gave us a lift to Dijon – all the way through the beautiful French countryside to avoid toll roads. Turns out they had come from Amsterdam – if only they had seen us when they were leaving on the Saturday…

Sunday was actually going pretty seamlessly with lifts after that wait – only about 30 minutes in Dijon to get to Lyon with some boy racers, 15 minutes wait to get to Montelimar with a French couple who spoke no English, and then it all started to go wrong. We managed to persuade a couple to give us a lift from Montelimar to Montpellier which was ideal, we could definitely make it to Spain by that evening since we would arrive in Montpellier at around 6:30/7. We didn’t. After agreeing to drop us at a gas station on the highway, they instead decided to drop us at a roundabout at a highway junction where we had almost no way of getting back onto the highway bar walking down the side of it to the next gas station (around 10k away) which looked terrifying especially in the dark. So we waited with our sign out asking for us to be taken to the next service station – only one couple picked us up who ended up having an argument in French in the front of the car and stopping the car in the middle of the road, turns out the man just wanted the driver to kick us out the car in the middle of the road but she was refusing. Determined to continue hitchhiking we called a cab to get us back onto the highway, but at the cost of €120 it was definitely not worth it, all the closest gas stations off the highway were also closed, so I made the decision to go to the train station and get the next train that would take us towards Spain. And thus, we were on our way to Perpignan with me texting my Dad asking him to find us the closest hostel to the train station – worst hitchhikers ever.

Perpignan however is really lovely, so I’d recommend a visit.

The next morning we woke up refreshed and dreading another day of hitchhiking, but like the martyrs we are we persevered against our better judgement. Our first ride took us onto the highway crammed into the back of a car with a sleeping toddler, leaving us at a peage/toll station. Apparently this is a good spot for hitchhiking, our experiences would argue otherwise, but eventually we were picked up due to our “lovely faces” and the fact that we probably looked about 16. In all honesty though, I would rather they had just left us as our next (and final) ride took us only to the next highway exit near a toll station and abandoned us with little warning. Queue us walking alongside the side of a highway with no layby and having to run across highway lanes – absolutely terrifying. Fortunately there was a parking spot on the otherside of the peage, where we waited and waited and waited to no avail only laughs from passers-by. Safe to say I did not deal well with this and sobbed for about an hour and a half. We did secretly hope my emotional distress would improve our chances, it did not – not even when we asked for help from the police but some ladies who worked at the toll station took pity on us and told us where to go to get a bus back to Perpignan where we had decided we would get the train.

The Pyrenees

Well that bus journey was quite the adventure as there was a gang fight on the bus with people armed with screwdrivers – very Orange is the New Black. No one was injured but it was all very exciting and made for a fantastic story when we arrived in Zaragoza.

3 trains and €82 later we arrived in Zaragoza. €70 of which went on the one highspeed train from Girona to Zaragoza which didn’t even have WiFi or power sockets – east coast does better than that!

At least we managed to make an entrance though, bursting in an hour late to dinner to rounds of applause – we had arrived and I could not have been happier.

However much we might have hated hitchhiking at times, when it was good it was very very good and when it was bad it was horrid. The good times, the lovely people and the time spent in Zaragoza definitely made up for all the bad – I would do it again but don’t ask me for at least a few months and definitely do not ask me to return to the South of France ever.

Cultural differences – Dutch paranoia

As I write this I can hear the emergency/civil defence alarm that goes off on the first Monday of the month at 12 – just to test it is still working. I find it very odd, it’s in case of invasion or gas leaks or bombs, so I understand it’s purpose – it’s just odd that it is still used and tested regularly. I definitely had a huge shock the first time I heard it, I thought maybe it was an alarm at a level crossing to let you know trains were coming – but no. That said the Dutch seem to find it odd that we don’t have one – what would we do if there was a gas leak? Just wait for the BBC news notification noise? I guess so.

However if the Netherlands was to be attacked at 12 on the first Monday of the month, the whole country would probably be dead because no one pays it any attention – apart from the new, scared expat and tourists.

3 day weekends are great

On Monday, Abbie and I made our way into Amsterdam for a day of museums and tourism. Having a three day weekend is so good! Touch wood, I have such a good timetable next semester… a girl can dream.

We went to the first museum, Body worlds, with Abbie’s housemate from York, who completely coincidentally was in Utrecht at the same time. The museum sounded really interesting, it was called the happiness project and I’m super interested in how emotions work and how they affect the body and such, so it sounded like it would be right up my street. I definitely had not realised it would be real-life dead bodies that had been like plastinated. So creepy, especially how you could actually tell what a lot of the full body ones would have looked like alive. It was actually really interesting though, even if some of it went over my head a bit. Abbie and Gillian were very into it though, and as two nurses probably understood a bit more of it. Definitely worth seeing though, even if it is a bit pricey.

I sampled “holland’s number one fries” for lunch, and I must admit I was disappointed, definitely had better chips. It is very odd, everyone seems to have an opinion on who does the best chips and everyone claims theirs are best. I don’t feel like we have that as much in the UK. Either way, I’m still a McDonald’s girl – with fritessaus.

I am Amsterdam

That afternoon we went to the Rijksmuseum, which is predominantly a huge dutch art gallery, but it does have a few pots and clothes and guns, etc. It’s an absolute maze in there, we kept ending up back in the main foyer somehow and having to re-enter the museum. Without sounding hideously uncultured, a lot of the art wasn’t really to my tastes, it was more just looking at it and walking on. The architecture was beautiful though, such an incredible building – especially the library which is really what I went to see, so pretty! Some of the more modern stuff I really enjoyed as well, although because it closed quite early, we only got to see half of this and missed the side that I really wanted to see, with Yves Saint Laurent and Appel. But I am here for a whole year – next time I’ll just see if I can borrow a Museum card though instead of having to pay again!

Bibliotheek

We went to Wok and Walk for dinner, which is probably one of my favourite fast food places – you get to choose what noodles you want, what sauce and what toppings and then they cook it all for you in a wok in front of you, and it just tastes soooo good! They only have them in Amsterdam here, but also in London in the UK, so if you’re passing, I would recommend it.

When we got home, we were celebrating my flatmate Bart’s 18th birthday so we got loads of chocolate cake which was so good. In my mind starting uni at 17 is so young, I mean it’s my sisters year at school, but it’s so common here. It’s probably partially because skipping (or being held back) grades isn’t really a thing at home, and everyone tends to be the same age if you are in the same academic year. I don’t think you really notice the age difference most of the time anyway, even if I am two years older than a lot of my friends.

Tuesday was back to class so I sent Abbie off exploring Amsterdam by herself. In the afternoon we had the study abroad fair where Abi, Becca and I (3 of the Leeds exchanges) tried to convince people to go to Leeds, which is slightly hard to do when you are competing against the USA and Australia and far more ‘exciting’ locations. I think we repeated the same conversation at least 20 times: “everyone in Leeds is always up for a good time”, “You’ll barely have any class and never have to buy books”, “You’ll be taught by people who are experts in their field”, “We have one of the best Student Unions in the UK, look at how much there is to do”. We also may have attempted to deter people from going to the other UK destinations (sorry guys!) but people should go to Leeds, especially if they’ll be going whilst I’m still there.

Abi, me and Becca

That evening we went to the best burger bar in town, Meneer Smakers. I had a goats cheese burger and it is potentially the best burger I have ever eaten – absolutely incredible. It’s such a nice atmosphere as well, really cute decoration. I will definitely be going again, even if I have already now sampled both the vegetarian burgers they sell – maybe I will have to try a meat burger next time and take a break from vegetarianism, or maybe I’ll just have the goats cheese one again because that was heavenly.

Geitenkaas burger

The weather has been a mixture this week, but on Friday it was absolutely beautiful and campus looked so pretty in the sun! I love living here, I am seriously never coming home.

More soon – especially on the incredible 1975 gig I went to last night, but I should definitely be revising as I have my first mid-term on Tuesday for Linguistics and I have no idea what a phoneme is… Wish me luck!

My first guest

For the majority of the past week I have had my friend, Abbie, from school (STAGs) staying with me and sleeping on my floor. It’s nice to have people to stay, not only to actually see them, but to be able to show people how beautiful my city is. It also definitely encourages me to do more touristy things – like the museums and churches. I do not envy her though, it was about a 23 hour journey on the megabus, compared to a 1 hour flight – far cheaper than flying though and some of the journey is spent on the ferry. So if you want to come and visit that might be something to look into if you want to book a last minute trip.

Lunch aan het kanaal

Saturday was all a bit of a disaster as Abbie’s coach was late and phone didn’t work abroad so I had almost no way of keeping in contact with her to find out when she would arrive, fortunately though through the kindness of others we managed to meet at Utrecht station and get the bus back to campus. We went into town in the afternoon and sat by the canals eating pizza and sandwiches which was lovely and so relaxing – loads of people were kayaking and on pedalos/canal bikes. Thrift shopping is great here, so so many vintage stores – continued with my theme of imaginative shopping by buying a bandanna and huge plaid shirt in red, I already own both these items in black. What can I say? I’m just such a creative dresser. So fashion. I also bought my first Dutch language books as I am determined to improve. I bought Rijmsoep by Roald Dahl and Harry Potter en de Steen der Wijzen (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone) – some of the name changes/translations are hilarious. Dumbledore for example is Perkamentus and the Dursleys are the Duffelings. Dirk Duffeling. No, it’s just not okay. In the evening we met up with a group of friends and watched Catching fire and ordered in pizza – oh my god Gorgonzola pizza is everything I have ever needed in my life.

Mijn nieuwe boeken

Sunday was a pretty lazy day – again we went into Utrecht and went to the Dom (but not up it) and to the Domkerk which was really nice and there was a very interesting display about Gaza in there, which suprised me as it was very explicitly pro-Gaza. I might not be religious, but church architecture does tend to be beautiful. I did however bruise my bum hugely riding on the back of the bike – sadly Abbie is better at being Dutch than me as I just do not have the balance, strength or co-ordination to carry someone on the back of my bike, which I’m sure is not surprising to anyone who knows me.

De dom

In the evening we went to a pannenkoekenhuis (pancake house), the same one in the woods that I’ve been to before, but it’s just so cute – I am going to take all my guests. I had an apple and ginger pancake which was incredible, and I’ve completely forgotten what Abbie had but I am pretty sure it had bacon on hence why I didn’t eat it. Vegetarian problems. Riding your bike there and back definitely helps with how full you are after finishing your pancake – how are they so filling?

Pannenkoeken

I’ve decided to continue the rest of Abbie’s visit on another blog post, because otherwise this will be much too long!

General catch-up

I haven’t blogged in a while mainly because I have had 2 pretty busy weeks, I hadn’t forgotten I promise! I think I’ll split it up into 2 blog posts just so there’s not too much to read.

I got my first journalism assignment back on Scottish Independence and got an A on it, so I’m very pleased with that – especially since it was so fun to write. The work is hard but I’m keeping on top of it (mostly) and doing reasonably well which I’m happy with. The past 2 weeks have been great as I’ve been interviewing people all over campus for my feature on campus life, which means I’ve met so many new people. Linguistics is still great fun and I’m loving it – I think if I had come here for my full degree it might have been an area I would have majored in, but I was instead destined for BA Politics (International). Sociology is still awful, this week my lecturer referred to women as “bitches”. Much misogyny, very objectification – on the bright side though it is super easy and I managed to get an A on my first essay by recycling previous modules. Plus I would like to thank my political theory lecturers for their very detailed powerpoints on Marx that mean I basically need to do no work for it. We’ve finally moved on from the holocaust in my violence, trauma and memory class, which is an anthropology module on genocide – super interesting but a very depressing topic for a hungover Friday morning.

The horrific hangovers have returned, but I am attributing them to my British nationality and blame that entirely for my alcohol consumption – “I can’t help it, it’s my culture.”

Last Tuesday (23/9) my lovely housemate from last year, Emily, was in Amsterdam so I popped over for the afternoon after class to see her. We spent a lot of time walking around Amsterdam, which is great because it now means there are plenty of places I can find my way to – mainly hugely touristy places though, but soon I’ll learn all the local spots. It’s definitely much nicer on a week day. It was one of the last days of nice weather, although I definitely wore too many layers. We went on a long hunt for warm stroopwafel which we eventually found in the museum square, but they were disappointingly below average – but still super tasty! We spent a lot of time sat by the I am amsterdam (Iamsterdam) sign outside the Rijksmuseum just people-watching and trying to avoid getting splashed by the dogs playing in the fountain. It made me think of Oliver, my little puppy dog. We went to find a restuarant for dinner, but food is so extortionately priced here. We did eventually find somewhere within our price budget though. Whilst we were waiting though a Dutch man behind us asked if we were waiting to be seated, and I replied yes, you know as you do – then he shouted at me for not calling him Sir. Just kept repeating “Sir…Sir…Sir” – the rudeness of it, I’m genuinely still in shock. I am not calling you sir, you are not my teacher. I am not your subordinate. Nope. The audacity of it.

Honden in die fontein

Top tip for travelling/biking in the Netherlands: Always remember where you’ve parked your bike, especially if you will be going back to it in the dark when your phone will have run out of battery for light. I didn’t. I left it at Utrecht Centraal station, which for reference easily has over 1000 bikes there and only vaguely remembered where, so spent 20 minutes searching for it in the dark. Not my finest moment.

An old picture – maar hier is mijn fiets

On the Wednesday, so the day after, I went to my friend’s birthday party in her unit which was super lovely – very “gezellig”. Everyone else’s living rooms are so pretty but ours is still quite boring, and messy as we have absolutely no storage space at all…

I have now got plans for fall break as well, Maurits and I will be joining the TripCo hitch-hike to Zaragoza in Spain which I am very excited for. I think we will also stay in Brussels for a few days after.

Dining hall food is still bad.

Sometimes I trick people in shops into thinking I speak Dutch, mainly by not saying anything, until they ask if I want a receipt or something gift wrapped and can’t understand them.

x

Freshers Flu

This week has been a bit of a nothing week. I haven’t really done that much worth writing about due to inordinate amounts of work and having a cold, but it’s been nice. I could really do with some olbas oil though. Spent lots of time on the balcony again enjoying the last few days of summer – I think we’re set for a bout of bad weather which means I should probably get an umbrella or raincoat. It will be nice to be able to wear layers again though and not worry about overheating whilst biking.

Dining hall food has got progressively worse throughout the term, and to think during introweek I was actually sort of impressed by it. I think it’s much easier if you do eat meat (although marginally more expensive) but I try not to – mainly because I don’t like it more than morals. Today the vegetarian option ran out at 6:20, 40 minutes before dining hall was meant to close – fortunately I managed to get the last one. On the bright side however we did get a toastie/tosti maker (thanks Petra!), so now I can make as many cheese and marmite toasties as my heart desires (which is a lot). Toasties for every meal please as well as all the caramel milka in the country.

I’m also finally an official resident of the Netherlands after going through the ordeal of registering with the municipality on Wednesday. You just had to wait in a packed room with everyone talking for someone to call your name (sometimes first name, sometimes surname) and nationality, they didn’t really shout though, just at a normal volume level for conversation. It ended up with people just shouting countries and hoping people would realise/guess it was them being called – bureaucratic chinese whispers. For me “Hayley, UK” was called out and it took so long for me to work out that was probably me. This does however mean I can finally set up a bank account and use the vending machines on campus (so apparently all my blog entries revolve around food)!

On Monday, we had a unit dinner which was good because normally everyone is so busy that we never get to just sit down and spend time together as a 6, even if individually we spend a lot of time together. Marlies and Bart made tomato bruschetta for starters which was so good and I ate vast amounts of. Maurits and I had to do the main course which would have been easier if we had actually remembered to buy ingredients more than 1 hour before dinner, I fully blame him as I went to Albert Heijn earlier that day and he didn’t tell me the ingredients. We made a pasta salad with pesto, pine nuts, rocket, roasted red pepper and artichoke which was actually really good, better than I expected – I was somewhat sceptical about cold pasta salad as a main course. Amea, our wonderful resident Mary Berry, and Jacky were in charge of desert which was a chocolate and pear cake and oh so good! Basically we’re all really good cooks when we work as a team.

I’m still yet to miss a Thursday party night at the bar, even if I did only go for about 30 minutes this week where they mistook my asking for water as wanting vodka shots, but at least I wasn’t as hungover as last Friday and actually made it to my classes!

I also finished rewatching season 2 of Orange is the New Black.